2016 Student Playwriting Competition Showcase

High School Winner: A Night with the Dream Keeper by Austin Lamewona

For the first time in history, an audience is welcomed into the private library of the Dream Keeper, a supernatural being who watches and records people’s dreams. For one night, the dream keeper will weave through the dreams and subsequent real-life sequences of four very interesting characters who come from four very different walks of life. Together, the dream sequences and real-life sequences create a cohesive play that inspires themes of passion and perfection.

Director: Aaron Moss

Cast:

Sarah Foote as The Dream Keeper

Roosevelt Tidwell as Unk

Drayzon Colbert as Dwayne Simeon

Aquiera Roberts as Erisa Hartwell

Kai B. Lewis as Kourtney Kolb

Stage Directions: Sandra Roberts

College Winner: My Dad’s Boy by Finnius Teppett

A young man writes a play about his father, trying to figure him out. Is he a good dad? A bad one? Does he even know there’s a difference? When his own girlfriend gets pregnant, though, the writer is faced with fatherhood himself.

About the Playwrights

Austin Lamewona is an aspiring African American writer from Cincinnati, Ohio. There are few things he enjoys more than the world of theatre and all it has to offer. Sometimes he is a novelist, sometimes he is an actor, and sometimes he is a playwright. Most of the time however, he is a student, jumping at any opportunity to improve his craft.

Finnius Teppett is a playwright from Wellington, New Zealand. He graduated from the University of Auckland with a BA in English and Drama, and from Victoria University’s International Institute of Modern Letters with an MA with Merit, in Creative Writing. His plays have been produced across New Zealand, as well as Australia and the Philippines. A shortlisted writer in New Zealand’s ‘Playwrights b4 25’ competition for four years running, he recently won ‘Highly Commended’ at the prestigious Adam NZ Play Awards, for his play My Dad’s Boy.

Student Playwriting Competition Showcase

Readings of the winning plays from ATG’s first student playwriting competition.

Sponsor: Westminster Presbyterian Church

High School Winner: Canary by Rachel Whalen

A young man deals with the loss of a friend.

Cast:

Michael Wachowiak as Ivan

Steve Copps as John

Gerry Maher as Wilfred

Larry Smith as Isaac

Kristin Bentley as Rebecca

Candice Kogut as Tessa

David Marciniak as Brian

Peter Palmisano as Amoretti

Director: David Oliver

College Winner: My Birthday Party by Wei He

A woman looks back on a close friendship.

Cast:

Marie Hasselback-Costa as W

Director: Megan Callahan

About the Playwrights

Rachel Whalen is a senior at Williamsville South High School. She was named a captain of both her varsity field hockey and softball teams this year. She has been writing articles for the Buffalo News Next section since her sophomore year. This year, Rachel resurrected her high school newspaper, serving as editor and contributing writer. She is co-president of her school’s National Honor Society. Her poetry has been recognized by the Williamsville Central School District’s annual poetry festival. She plays oboe in the Williamsville South Wind Ensemble. Her senior year she played in the All-County honor band. Rachel will be attending Cornell University in the fall.

Wei He is a bilingual playwright and fiction writer from Inner Mongolia, China, and is now living in Pittsburgh, PA. She holds an MA degree in Creative Writing from Miami University of Ohio and is currently an MFA candidate in the Dramatic Writing Program at Carnegie Mellon University. Her fiction, poetry and dramatic works in English and Mandarin have been published in the United States, China and Taiwan, including her full-length play Zhi Tao published by Qunyan Press in 2013. And she is proud of her secret recipe of Sand-wei-ch.

Photos by Vincent Lopez

Story 4: The Humble & The Brave

A performance consisting of different narrative art forms centered on the importance of humility and courage in perceiving the world around us.

Our story series presents literature in dynamic ways with actors, storytellers, artists and scholars in locations throughout Buffalo.

The Humble & The Brave: Finding the Universal Myth

For the fourth installment of our Story Series, small groups experienced a performance consisting of different narrative art forms centered on the importance of humility and courage in perceiving the world around us.

Our story series presents literature in dynamic ways with actors, storytellers, artists and scholars in locations throughout Buffalo.

Looking into a Broken Mirror: The Watchman, The Emperor, The Storyteller, and The Queen

The third installment of our Story Series explored the actor’s process for developing characters. The event featured discussions and readings of passages from Aeschylus’s Agamemnon, Utai Kimmō Zuye’s Genjo, Lady Gregory’s The Gaol Gate, and Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra.

Sponsors: Westminster Presbyterian Church and Talking Leaves Books

Photos by Julian Montague

Story 2: The Tower of Babel and the Splitting of Languages

A close reading and guided investigation into the “Tower of Babel” in the Bible. Conversation led by Edan Dekel, Chair of Classics and Jewish Studies at Williams College.

Featured Speaker: Edan Dekel, Chair of Classics and Jewish Studies at Williams College.

Against the Grain Theater Festival Story Series

Our story series presents literature in dynamic ways with actors, storytellers, artists and scholars in locations throughout Buffalo.

The Tower of Babel and the Splitting of Languages

The second installment of ATG’s 2014-2015 Story Series was “The Tower of Babel and the Splitting of Languages,” a close reading and guided investigation into the “Tower of Babel” passage in the Bible. The conversation was led by Edan Dekel, Chair of Classics and Jewish Studies at Williams College.

“The Bible is perhaps the most influential work in the history of Western philosophy, literature, and art. But the overwhelming presence of the text in nearly every aspect of modern culture often obscures the sheer brilliance of its narrative technique as well as the complex interplay between law, history, prophecy, and poetry. Through a close reading and discussion of the ‘Tower of Babel,’ one of the most noteworthy episodes in the early history of the Bible, we will explore essential questions about language, humanity, and justice, as well as the fundamental power of storytelling that has resonated across the centuries.”

– Edan Dekel

Photos by Julian Montague

Story 1: Searching for an American Identity in Literature

Upon arrival, small groups set off on a path through theatrical readings of several significant pieces of American literature.

Our story series presents literature in dynamic ways with actors, storytellers, artists and scholars in locations throughout Buffalo.

Searching for an American Identity in Literature

For the first installment of the ATG Story Series, People United for Sustainable Housing (PUSH Buffalo) generously allowed us to use its 14th Street Community Gardens. Upon arriving at the gardens, small groups set off on a path that took them through theatrical readings of several significant pieces of American literature.

For its first production, the Against the Grain Theater Festival produced a fully staged reading of Henrik Ibsen’s The Master Builder at Silo City along Buffalo’s waterfront. The production was staged at three different locations on the Silo City site. As the play progressed, audience members and actors moved from stage to stage. The Master Builder tells the story of Halvard Solness, an aging architect, and Hilda Wangel, a young woman who inspires him to build his crowning achievement. Neil Wechsler, Against the Grain Theater Festival’s Artistic Director, adapted Ibsen’s original text. The cast and crew were made up of talented people from Buffalo, Chicago, New York City, and Toronto. Accomplished local director and actor David Oliver directed Wechsler’s adaptation. The two teamed previously to create the acclaimed production of Ibsen’s Emperor and Galilean at Torn Space Theater. Celebrated New York City designer Caleb Wertenbaker designed the sets. Marvin Carlson, one of the world’s leading theater scholars, gave a brief talk on The Master Builder immediately following Sunday night’s performance entitled, “Solness’s Faustian Bargain.”